Penicillin acylase immobilization depending on macromolecular crowding and catalysis in aqueous-organic medium

To enhance penicillin acylase (PA) performance, it was immobilized in mesocellular silica foams (MCFs) depended on macromolecular crowding and applied to catalysis in non-aqueous medium. Ficoll 70, dextran 10,000, dextran 40,000 and bovine serum albumin were co-assembled with PA. It was observed that specific activity of PA assembled in MCFs with dextran 10,000 in 80% cyclohexane (v/v) was 233.2 U/mg, 200% as that of PA assembled in MCFs in 80% cyclohexane and 323.5% as that of free PA in full aqueous medium. As content of alkane increased, activity of PA in MCFs with macromolecules varied slightly. In addition, PA co-immobilized with dextran 10 in MCFs retained 58.2% of its initial activity after heating at 50 degrees C for 4 h, 1.2 times higher than that of PA immobilized alone in MCFs. The results showed that macromolecular crowding was favorable for immobilization of PA and its catalysis in suitable aqueous-organic medium.